pretend to be you, S.S., for a moment and say:" perhaps, you haven't noticed the potential downsides because you don't like to acknowledge them" .

I would truly enjoy seeing what would happen if private schools in Birmginham were forced to accept poor black students. I am a complete cynic at this point. I feel sure that it would pan out that blacks would be excluded from private white schools and affluent whites would be able to divert their share of property tax toward the education of their privately educated white kids.

Special ed. funding is a major consideration because many kids in inner cities schools would probably qualify for this extra help if they happened to be in more affluent communities. These inner city communities are not wealthy enough to pay for the help these kids need. WHO is going to pay for it? The Cleveland voucher program spent a couple thousand extra per pupil. This money aided 33% who were ALREADY in private school. 21% had already gone to public school, the rest were just beginning school so it is hard to say where they would have been placed. If the country is planning to spend a bunch more money on education than it is really important to think about the best way to spend it and who needs it the most. If we are going to embark on a voucher system then it is vitally impotant IMO to release public schools from fed. mandates like NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND and allow them the freedom to be innovative.